Tagged: CC101

“Triremes were built to kill. You can’t have fun on a trireme. You can’t water-ski behind one. You can’t hold an afternoon BBQ on one. You can’t do anything but kill on a trireme.” “Why did the Athenians beat the Persians? Because the Persians showed up to the wars with wicker shields. Wicker. The Persians […]

“When you go into the Acropolis, why are all the great buildings off to the left? In the archaic day there was the greatest temple erected right before you. This was the temple the Persians burned down and which prompted Pericles and the Athenians to rebuild.” “Despite the agony on the centaur’s face, the whole […]

Yesterday I went out at about twelve, and visited the British Museum; an exceedingly tiresome affair. It quite crushes a person to see so much at once; and I wandered from hall to hall with a weary and heavy heart, wishing (Heaven forgive me!) that the Elgin marbles and the frieze of the Parthenon were […]

In view of Prof. Fred Kleiner’s lecture this Tuesday on the art and politics of the Greek Acropolis, this week’s analects all concern the Athenian Parthenon. You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles mean to us. They are our pride. They are our sacrifices. They are our noblest symbol of excellence. They are a tribute […]

“Isn’t it amazing that the first major work of western civilization — Gilgamesh — depicts the destruction of a human city?” “Menelaus is about to kill Helen, but (smart lady), she bares her breast to him, and he throws his sword down. Some things never change.” “Calypso’s name means concealment and while Odysseus is with […]

“Reason and heart will give you words, Telemakhos; and a spirit will counsel others. I should say the gods were never indifferent to your life.” – Homer, from The Odyssey Book III, lines 31-33. Translation by Robert Fitzgerald.

“Think of the Bible as Woody Allen’s recipe for chicken salad.” “The drama of this epic is that at every moment God gives them what they need, and the next moment, they fuck up again.” “Law is the emotional center of Exodus. The stories exist as the frame FOR the law.” “Aaron should be like […]

“We can think of Genesis, not as a book with a beginning and an end, but rather as an archive.” “God’s covenant with Noah is one-sided. God does not ask for anything in return but he makes a rule that no one is to kill each other but the covenant is not dependent on the […]

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